Green Cakes

Says Gray: "This recipe was forged out of the fires of necessity. After moving to Portland, Oregon, my then pregnant wife and I joined an organic C.S.A. (community supported agriculture) to promote nutritious gestation of our son. Once a week a box of goodies alighted on our doorstep. We loved the bounty of the fields and dales, and voraciously ate through the box. However, an idiosyncratic division arose between the use and non-use of the ever present kale in our box. To make better use of the oft neglected kale I scoured recipe books and the internet searching for a palatable vehicle, with limited success (read:none). Until one fateful day when the only thing left in the bottom of the fridge was that little green monster.

"After blanching the kale for my eggs (a good way to get my greens in the am, or the kale eaten), I had an epiphany, and then scrabbled the recipe you see before you, to the wild success it now holds in our family. Not only is kale no longer the stepchild of our box, it has moved to the forefront of weekly planning, where a kale-less box is met with much chagrin. To you and yours, Happy Holidays!"

Directions

First off you need to blanch all the veggies. Boil a large pot of water, and get an ice bath started to cool the veggies once they are done cooking. Once the water is boiling, dunk the greens in for 2-3 min, then plunge the into ice bath. Do in batches if they don't all fit.

Once the greens are safely in the ice-water bath, blanch the garlic and the onions for about 30 seconds. You can leave the skins on, and you don't need to put them in the ice-bath. Just don't touch them until they are cool enough to handle.

Once everything is cool, start with the greens. Take them out of the ice bath, and squeeze all the water you can out of them -- I use a paper towel or dish cloth. Roughly chop the greens, onions, and mince the garlic; add them to a mixing bowl.

Toast 2 slices of bread -- I prefer the end pieces that nobody eats anyway. Once toasted brown, chop or crumble bread into mixing bowl. Chop up the cheese into a decent dice, or shred, add to mixing bowl. Add flour, salt and pepper to the mix. Crack eggs into bowl, and break yolks. Use spatula (or your hands!) to thoroughly mix together all the ingredients. They should begin to feel a little like a "meatball."

Once mix is sticky, heat up a skillet, then add some oil or butter once the pan is hot. Once combined, make a small ball (about a cup) of the mix in your hands and squeeze together firmly. Place ball in skillet, and mash it flat with the back of a spatula, trying to keep "cake" together. Fry until golden brown on each side.

Comments

Jessicafrom on July 12th, 2011

Have been holding onto this recipe for a while - finally made it last night with kale & chard from the garden. Was really great! I would suggested mincing the onion finer, as it doesn't like to stick as well coarsely chopped.